Published 11:45 am, Sunday, June 24, 2012

NORWALK -- The city's Zoning Commission has given TR Sono Partners, LLC, approval to build a five-story, 52-unit apartment building and 90-space parking garage at 99 Washington St.

The roughly half-acre parcel, adjacent to The Ginger Man, is now a parking lot.

TR Sono Partners is an affiliate of F.D. Rich Co., the Stamford-based real estate development company that owns a sizable chunk of property in SoNo, including the property occupied by The Ginger Man.

"We're mindful of the fact that that parking lot is of critical importance to the neighborhood, so we're building a parking garage that takes care of the residents in the building, and then has enough excess capacity to provide a significant public parking resource over what's there now," F.D. Rich Co. President Tom Rich told The Hour. And "it's going to be a beautiful building. It fits well, not only architecturally, but contextually into that neighborhood. It fills in that missing tooth on Washington Street."

Rich said the building will be called The Pearl to reflect the oystering history of Norwalk. With the commission's approval of the plan on June 20, TR Sono Partners will finalize construction drawings, secure financing "and march toward a construction start, which we anticipate would be not later than Jan. 1, 2013."

Rich anticipates a 12-month construction period. He would not divulge the cost of the development.

Under the plan, parking will occupy the basement, ground and second floors of The Pearl. Retail space will occupy a portion of the ground floor. Studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments will occupy the third, fourth and fifth floors with the fifth floor set back from street level. Six units would be priced as affordable to comply with the city's Workforce Housing Regulation.

The inclusion of a water fountain at street level and public parking spaces within the garage are among the requirements for allowance of the fifth floor under zoning regulations.

Rich said parking will include the 90-space, three-level garage with egress onto Washington St., as well as 24 parking spaces which will be constructed on property owned by F.D. Rich Co. at 43 South Main St.

"It's a good spot to do in-fill development. It's going to provide more parking than exists on the lot," said Joseph Santo, Zoning Commission chairman. And "they're creating 24 spaces (on South Main Street) while they do the construction of the residences, because that parking lot is going to be gone for a year when they do that construction."

Santo said commissioners' only sticking point with the plan was pedestrian safety given that vehicles will be entering and existing the parking garage from Washington Street. Santo said the commission required, as part of the approval, that TR Sono Partners take measures to alert motorists of the pedestrian presence and vice-versa.

Michael B. Greene, the city's director of planning and zoning, said the project will be an important development at "the keystone location on Washington Street."

"It provides the residential density desired by the city, as well as an additional parking resource for the neighboring businesses," Greene said. "Combined with the recent approval of the North Water Street project, it will be instrumental in creating a vibrant, mixed use, urban neighborhood."

Because of its location, the development is subject to design guidelines set forth in the city's Washington Design District Two Urban Renewal Plan.

A June 13 letter from Gill & Gill to the agency spelled out some concerns, including the fifth floor and whether public parking spaces in the parking garage will be "available to the general public."

"Will they be free? What measures will be implemented in order to prevent residents of the residential portion of the project from parking second or third cars in the public spaces?" wrote Gill & Gill Principal Harrison Gill.

Santo said TR Sono Partners will "come back and do minor changes" to the plan, if needed, based upon the review commissioned by the Redevelopment Agency and performed by Gill & Gill Architects.

Rich said the parking garage will accommodate at least 90 vehicles and more likely upward of 150 vehicles once valet parking is introduced for the structure. "We're maximizing the space by using it efficiently through valet parking," he said.

The Zoning Commission approval of the plan came after a public hearing at which about a half-dozen people spoke agreeably to the plan, according to Santo.

Several SoNo entities, including SoNo Corporate Center at 50 Washington St., Knipschildt Chocolatier at 12 South Main St., and Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, LLC, wrote letters of endorsement for the project.